Can you Fake Authenticity in Branding?

A great read from Fast Company magazine:
Excerpt:
In an increasingly shiny, fabricated world of spun messages and concocted experiences–where nearly everything we encounter is created for consumption–elevating a brand above the fray requires an uncommon mix of creativity and discipline. And nowhere do you see the challenge more starkly illustrated than in the quest for authenticity. [...]

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At #101, We Try Harder

Here is Millward Brown’s 2007 Top 100 Brands Ranking report (free .pdf download). Not surprisingly, Google has rocketed to the top.
My secret mole within the organization said that we were just bumped out by a whisker. Oh, well, there’s always next year!

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Introducing: The New Marketing Blogger Portal!

You’re a blogger and a professional. Your voice is “out there” somewhere in the blogosphere – how are people going to find out about you?
We’re making a start, with the brand new Marketing Blogger Portal!
This portal is a collection of feeds from many of the top bloggers in the realms of branding, advertising, design, copywriting, [...]

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It’s a Pleasure

Throughout my short but enjoyable blogging “career,” I’ve made a number of comments and recommendations about good wine, coffee, beer, music, reading, etc.
Instead of having that “After Hours” stuff scattered all over various blogs, I’ve decided to collect my reviews and commentary on a dedicated blog, called It’s a Pleasure. This will also include (weekly) [...]

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Collaborating on a Book

Along with a great group of other bloggers, I’ll be contributing a chapter to an upcoming e-book.
Back story here, with an explanation of how this project has developed in rapid-time!
Here are the names and blog links (mostly) for all contributors.
Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob [...]

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Brand DNA – instant recognition

Seth Godin has an insightful post on how quickly certain things (such as the first notes of a song) can register on us, and bring up the “brand” represented.
Off the top of my head, I think this type of imparted Brand DNA comes from at least 3 things:
- Repetition
- Consistency
- Strong (hopefully, positive!) association
Recently, one [...]

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Customers Rot!

Becky Carroll has a very enjoyable blog entitled Customers Rock!, in which she holds forth the perspective that we really should treat our customers as incredibly valuable.
But some people/companies still seem to hold to a Customers Rot! attitude.
Recently, we’ve been seeking to get some plumbing work done. A sink replaced, a couple faucets, a few [...]

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My Recent Posts on Small Business Branding blog

I have been asked to contribute articles to the SBB blog. I anticipate writing about one per week; here are the first few:
Bullet-point Branding – wherein I take on the (very common) tendency to present one’s company via a list of blah-blah, and suggest that it is far more effective to narrow company branding down [...]

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“I’d like some Moskowitz, please!”

For years, I heard the ads on the NYC radio airwaves. “We don’t arrange loans, we make loans! We write the checks.” It was the M.L. Moskowitz company, pitching their services.
Suddenly, a few years back, I began to hear the same pitches but under a new name. Equity Now. Somebody at this company “gets it.”
If [...]

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Finding a Needle in a Logostack

As happens occasionally when I read the Wall Street Journal, there was a full page “boast” ad today (for NASDAQ, in this case) showcasing a whole bunch of company logos – 72 new companies that have joined the exchange this quarter.
I always browse through these logostacks to see if there are any that really stand [...]

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My Most Popular Post – I Can’t Believe it!

Like most bloggers, I like to peek “under the hood” and see which posts generate the most traffic. And, since search engines drive so much surfing these days, it’s particularly enlightening to see which terms are used frequently that draw people to my site.
Some of the searches are truly bizarre. Why my site comes up [...]

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Brand New Jersey

I live in New Jersey, and have for 23 years.
So, when someone asks, “Where are you from?”, why is it that I generally answer, “I live in New Jersey”? Why, after 23 years, am I unable to say that I am “from” New Jersey?
Sad to say, I’ve never been sold on the brand that [...]

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Brands You Can Take to the Bank!

Last week, I drove by some sign for Citizen’s Bank. It registered in my obsessive brand-consciousness that this was a particularly weak logo – what do a bunch of arrows pointing to one another have to do with anything? Then, going on their website, I noted that the tagline is, at least, consistent with the [...]

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Coffee and Donut Shops: spicing up a boring drive

It was a long and rainy drive to Boston last week. The scenery, of course, was ever-changing – the back of an 18-wheeler, the rooster-tail from an SUV, orange detour cones – but despite all that, staying alert and engaged was a challenge. What to do to help make the trip less of a snooze?
How [...]

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Three E-mail Marketing Services to look at

I have a weekly e-newsletter that goes out to my pharmaceutical clientele, and for that, I use Constant Contact. Why? Because I saw their logo at the bottom of other newsletters that I received over the years, and when it was time to start my business, they were a familiar name. And, I’ve had no [...]

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Back to the Past

Every once in a while, my eye catches an advertisement on-line that forces me to click – not because I care one whit about the thing being advertised, but because the graphical design or message is so compelling.
Yes, I’m sick. I know.
This morning, it was a banner ad for Ancestry.com. I thought that the logo, [...]

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Got Duck?

Never heard of this school, and probably never would have…except for this pretty funny website featuring a talking duck. Somebody had a lot of fun with this….
Hat tip: Coudal Partners

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The Power of Imagery

Recently, I asked a graphic designer friend to come up with a couple of graphics using the imagery of pie, for a volunteer organization in which I serve.
She did a great job – and the unexpected evidence was quickly apparent! My five year old was standing over my shoulder as I opened up the files [...]

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Benefits of Blogging: Networking

I’ve been carrying on an e-conversation with Becky Carroll, the author of the excellent Customers Rock! blog, and Principal of the Petra Consulting Group. We first stumbled across each other due to a posting on wine, which touched on a mutual area of interest.
Since both of our blogs and businesses focus on marketing issues (wine [...]

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Brands That Lie

In the shower today – why is it that so many ideas pop up when watered in the morning? – I was reminded, looking at the various plastic containers of ablutions, what amazing levels of lying go on in the marketing of hair care products.
I grabbed the bottles in order to jot down exact quotes [...]

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Brand Memories – the bad kind

Yesterday, I brushed past a couple of brands that continue to grate on my nerves.
- Parked in the parking lot at the gym were two UPS trucks, one still old-style, the other with the new branding. Grrrr!
- Then, in the Wall Street Journal, an ad from TIAA-CREF, who should be nominated for the Fatal Four [...]

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Wake up Call

It’s one of those mornings. The cobwebs don’t want to clear. I’m an “early to rise” type (people shouldn’t be surprised to get e-mails from me before 6 am!), but today, I think I need something extra. A REAL cup of coffee…like this one!
Hat Tip: Pharmagossip

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Coming Up with Names

Every once in a while, the conceit creeps in that you’ve seen all the branding/marketing sites out there. Nope. Here’s a very thoughtful site on corporate naming, called The Name Inspector. Written by a linguist with solid experience in naming, this relatively new site has some great content.
Hat tip: Guy Kawasaki

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